South Early Winter Spire

Hey hey hey! So I have some really big news to share with you. The only people who know are Aaron and I. I haven't even shared this with my brother or Anna!! Now you know I'm 100% serious about this. I'm just not exactly sure how to break the news to you because I'm so gosh darn excited!! Well... I guess I'll come out and say it.

I'm...

I'm...

I'm in love with Washington Pass. I mean look at this photo! It totally stole my heart and took me into it's lovely mountain slopes. It was so hard to leave but i will be back!

View from pitch 5 of Southwest Rib

Anyways... this past weekend, Aaron and I made the drive to Washington Pass near Mazama, WA. We drove up Thursday after work because I had Friday and Saturday off. We packed the truck with climbing and camping gear along with our bikes. We hid our bikes and locked them up in the woods and slept in our second home: The Tacoma.

Friday, we woke up early to beat the heat. It was a splendid and comfortable 103 - absolutely perfect for climbing. We got the climbing rack in order, stuffed our packs, put on our shoes and started the hike to South Early Winters Spire to climb SW Rib (5.8). We kind of lost the trail on the hill to find the base of the climb but nothing a little bushwhacking couldn't fix! Eventually we made it to the start of the climb and got situated when Mama Goat and Baby Goat strolled on by and stared us down. We cruised through some pitches, had a clif bar, turned around to soak in the view, and made our way to the summit. We were in the sun after about pitch 6 and it was HOT. Like North Carolina hot without the humidity. My forearms were the color of cooked lobster later that night even after sunscreen application! We found some meager shade on the summit and had lunch before packing up and downclimbing via the South Arete. By the way, Aaron and I climbed that route with Alex and Katie last summer to break me into alpine climbing and consequentially get me addicted. If you'd like to read about that, here is the link (http://lifeofmegan6.blogspot.com/2014/08/my-weekend-was-better-than-yours.html) and even back then I knew I was in paradise. We made the drive to Mazama for some cold drinks, ice cream, and sunscreen and then went back to the truck for dinner and sleeping.

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and about the clouds. -Edward Abbey

Saturday, we woke up early because we had a tougher climb ahead of us. We were gunning for Direct East Buttress (5.9+ A0) where I had many firsts on that climb. We tossed our bags on our backs and started hiking up the gully which was a little further away than it appeared. We had a leg burner of a hike, then a traverse along the mountainside on loose terrain, up another leg burner, and through a tree to finally reach the base. We roped up and got at it. We were in the middle of pitch 2 and this guy just comes flying by. I'm like yeah go ahead, there's another belay up there. Well just as I was about to start climbing, I see his partner simul-climbing so that guy clearly didn't belay above me. (I later found out that the first guy placed 2 pieces and essentially cruised through the third pitch a 5.9+ layback with a roof without being belayed. Good for you man). Anyways, Aaron and I keep making our way through the pitches and the party below us is patient when I thought flailing through the 5.9+ layback was a good choice. Then came the aid pitches. Aaron taught me how to ascend the rope the night before so I think it went fairly well and I wasn't painstakingly slow. Once nearing the end of the pitch, there is a mandatory 5.10c traverse section. It took Aaron a little confidence building talk and convincing me that I could do it before I gathered all of my courage and pulled off the move. That was one of the scariest (and happiest) moments of my climbing life. Then we had one more aid pitch and then cruised then next few pitches to gain the summit!

South Early Winters Spire is the second spire from the right. The gully in the left middle is what we hiked up to get to the base of the climb on Saturday

Aaron was meeting a friend, Jim, for more climbing on Sunday but I had to race back to the city because I worked on Sunday. We quick ate dinner, tossed the stuff Aaron needed for the next time, and I took off for home and slept in the most amazingly comfortable bed I could ever dream of. I barely remembered to take a shower. That my friends is how you know you had a great weekend climbing in the northern Cascades.